Snell & Wilmer Advises Immuno-Oncology Company Mondego Bio as it Secures €20 Million in Series A Financing

SAN DIEGO – Snell & Wilmer advised Mondego Bio, a new Portuguese startup developing breakthrough cancer treatments, as it secured €20million in Series A financing led by Biovance Capital Partners, a biotech venture capital firm based in Lisbon, Portugal, alongside OrbiMed, a leading healthcare investment firm with over $17 billion in assets under management, and Torrey Pines Investment, a specialty life-science investment company.

Headquartered in Portugal’s main biotech park, Biocant, Mondego Bio is developing best-in-class protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) inhibitors, providing a potential immuno-oncological therapy with an improved safety and tolerability profile. The lead programs are based on research initially developed by Eilean Therapeutics, an AI/ML supported oncology platform co-founded by OrbiMed and Torrey Pines.

“This marks the first investment by Biovance Capital Fund I, which looks to provide crucial capital to develop transformational therapies for unmet medical needs, and attract world-class scientists and investors to Portugal,” said Ricardo Perdigão Henriques, PhD, Managing Partner of Biovance Capital, in a recent press release. “With very compelling science, we are excited to back Mondego Bio’s work on PTPN2 inhibitors in immuno-oncology, marking our first investment in Southern Europe and a successful collaboration with OrbiMed and Biovance Capital,” added Nikolay Savchuk, PhD, Managing Partner of Torrey Pines Investment.

Partner Bardia Moayedi led the Snell & Wilmer team advising Mondego Bio in the deal. The diverse team included Sarah Hibbard, Jason Gersting, Manuel Rajunov, P.C. and paralegal Scott Drake.

Snell & Wilmer’s corporate and securities attorneys have served as counsel to a substantial number of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to smaller emerging businesses. Our attorneys have provided sophisticated legal representation to biotech companies, health care and financial institutions, public utilities, homebuilders, transportation companies, restaurant and hospitality providers, athletic complexes, fitness facilities, and many other types of businesses. Snell & Wilmer’s venture capital and private equity practice covers multiple aspects of the transactional arena involving public and private companies, including the structuring and execution of majority buyouts and minority investments, acquisitions (including buy- and sell-side deals, as well as negotiated and auction deals), financings (including 144A transactions and PIPEs), going-private transactions, and spin-off transactions. Our venture capital and private equity attorneys advise both domestic and international funds, including venture capital, private equity, hedge, mezzanine, real estate opportunity, fund-of-funds, exchange, and other private investment funds.